Grade: Grade 10, 11, 12 Level: Applied or Academic Topic: Between the Wars (1919-1929) Length: This lesson will take place during the first 20 minutes of 5 learning days
Introduction
Students will be introduced to the 1920’s by taking on working roles during these four classes. Students will be involved a game in which they become business men and women in New York City in the 1920’s, and will be given the opportunity to buy, sell and trade stocks. They will be told in the first class that their grade for this part of the unit will be dependent on how much money they are able to accumulate by the end of the game. During this first class, we will also decide on a rubric together which explains how much money is needed to obtain each grade level. See the example rubric below.
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Money
100
1000
10,000
100,000
At the beginning of each class, a list of prices will be written on the board for each type of stock that is available (railroad, bank, bonds, lumber, GE, Ford etc). These prices will fluctuate daily and students will learn about buying and selling stocks before their first exposure to this concept. They are allowed 5 transactions each class in which they can purchase stocks or sell the ones they currently own, keeping in mind that their ultimate goal is to achieve a level four in their total sum of money. For each transaction, the teacher and the student must sign a receipt.
This will continue to happen for five classes; however, on the fourth day, the students will notice that there has been a significant drop in the value of their stocks.
On the fifth day, the stock market will crash. For the first half of transactions, students will learn that prices have fallen by 40%. They will be given 3 minutes to decide what they want to do with their stocks, knowing that they are deep trouble. After those 3 minutes are up, they will learn that once again, prices have fallen by another 40%, that inflation has devalued any money they currently have and that the cost of living has more than doubled. In other words, no matter what each students’ previous situation was, they will not be achieving a level 4.
Application
After learning about the stock market crash of 1929, students will have a real understanding of what happened to the people of the world who had invested in stocks, and even those who did not. As a result of the fact that no student should be able to achieve a high grade at this point, we will be throwing out the previous rubric. Now the students will begin to learn about the Great Depression, which is where the problem based learning comes in to play.
The Problem/Object
Students must identify the problem in what we have been learning about and experiencing, which is basically that the world’s stock markets have crashed, and families are left in a Depression. They will become the governments of Canada and must solve the issue of what can be done to fix the situation.
Students will head to the library on Day 6 where they will have access to computers, books, and other research materials, and will be given the chance to find out for themselves what the politicians at the time tried to do the fix the problem. In groups of 4, they must consider whether or not they agree/disagree with these choices, what they would do differently, what worked and what didn’t work etc.
On Day 7 or 8, depending on whether or not more time is needed for groups, students will present their findings to the class and propose the solutions that they came up with to get Canada out of the Great Depression.
Teaching the 1920's and the Great Depression
Grade: Grade 10, 11, 12
Level: Applied or Academic
Topic: Between the Wars (1919-1929)
Length: This lesson will take place during the first 20 minutes of 5 learning days
Introduction
Students will be introduced to the 1920’s by taking on working roles during these four classes. Students will be involved a game in which they become business men and women in New York City in the 1920’s, and will be given the opportunity to buy, sell and trade stocks. They will be told in the first class that their grade for this part of the unit will be dependent on how much money they are able to accumulate by the end of the game. During this first class, we will also decide on a rubric together which explains how much money is needed to obtain each grade level. See the example rubric below.
At the beginning of each class, a list of prices will be written on the board for each type of stock that is available (railroad, bank, bonds, lumber, GE, Ford etc). These prices will fluctuate daily and students will learn about buying and selling stocks before their first exposure to this concept. They are allowed 5 transactions each class in which they can purchase stocks or sell the ones they currently own, keeping in mind that their ultimate goal is to achieve a level four in their total sum of money. For each transaction, the teacher and the student must sign a receipt.
This will continue to happen for five classes; however, on the fourth day, the students will notice that there has been a significant drop in the value of their stocks.
On the fifth day, the stock market will crash. For the first half of transactions, students will learn that prices have fallen by 40%. They will be given 3 minutes to decide what they want to do with their stocks, knowing that they are deep trouble. After those 3 minutes are up, they will learn that once again, prices have fallen by another 40%, that inflation has devalued any money they currently have and that the cost of living has more than doubled. In other words, no matter what each students’ previous situation was, they will not be achieving a level 4.
Application
After learning about the stock market crash of 1929, students will have a real understanding of what happened to the people of the world who had invested in stocks, and even those who did not. As a result of the fact that no student should be able to achieve a high grade at this point, we will be throwing out the previous rubric. Now the students will begin to learn about the Great Depression, which is where the problem based learning comes in to play.
The Problem/Object
Students must identify the problem in what we have been learning about and experiencing, which is basically that the world’s stock markets have crashed, and families are left in a Depression. They will become the governments of Canada and must solve the issue of what can be done to fix the situation.
Students will head to the library on Day 6 where they will have access to computers, books, and other research materials, and will be given the chance to find out for themselves what the politicians at the time tried to do the fix the problem. In groups of 4, they must consider whether or not they agree/disagree with these choices, what they would do differently, what worked and what didn’t work etc.
On Day 7 or 8, depending on whether or not more time is needed for groups, students will present their findings to the class and propose the solutions that they came up with to get Canada out of the Great Depression.
By: Vikki Dykes